Air America host Randi Rhodes called both Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton "whores" in a recent appearance, seen below. Rhodes, who hosts a weekday radio show on Air America, said to the cheering crowd, "What a whore Geraldine Ferraro is! She's such a fucking whore!" She then proceeded to say, "Hillary is a big fucking whore, too" to a mixed audience reaction. "You know why she's a big fucking whore? Because her deal is always, 'Read the fine print, asshole!'"
The video is attached within the link. I watched and I personally don't think it was even that bad. I'm in three schools of thought on this...
1. If you're going to suspend her because she was offensive, then you can't let her have free reign to say what she did about Reagan, Cheney, et. al. and then suddenly get offended when she throws in Hilary. Let's have some consistency.
2. This is nothing different than what Rhodes has said on the air about Hilary for the last several months. The only difference is, she dropped some f-bombs this time around.
3. This is tame compared to some of the bile that comes from guys like Michael Savage. I guarantee if he went out and called Hilary a "big fucking whore", no one would have touched him.
All in all, I personally think this suspension stinks.
Actually, my initial reaction was that I didn't even know Randi Rhodes or Air America were still on the air.
But, if you're making a public appearance in support of your employer and say something like that, then I think you shouldn't be surprised to get suspended. IMHO, it's an employer-employee thing and there's probably more to the suspension and story than we're seeing publicly.
And, unless Savage is employed by Air America (now there's a thought!), then I don't see the relationship.
Regardless of her suspension, I don't see how her comments serves or furthers the public discourse. I am so, so tired of this kind of rhetoric.
I can't really determine the nature of her appearance at this event, but, apparently, she was doing a "stand-up" comedy routine.
Given that this was a private appearance intended for a small group of people - and that she probably wouldn't be under suspension had the video not made it to YouTube (oopsie!) - I think it's pretty silly to suspend her. Certainly, Hillary Clinton has been called much worse in much more public and serious of settings by the right.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardOn the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a big fucking whore.
EDIT: Incidentally, Republicans of America, I totally get it now.
(edited by OlFuzzyBastard on 5.4.08 1652)
So you realize that Bill and Hillary will burn down the village if they can't have it for themselves? They are going to take this to Denver, and they will pull every Parliamentary trick known to man in the credential committee in order to get their delegates seated, and finding any miniscule reason to disqualify an Obama delegate. Beware what happens if a 2nd ballot ever is needed, as the Clinton's will make every side deal known to man necessary to get people to flip. That is going to be the next idea, have the superdelegates sit out the first round of voting in order to force it to go mulitiple ballots. A wounded Clinton is a very dangerous Clinton. How I wish the 2/3 rule still was active.
See, I think deep down she's already given up and is just trying to do everything in her power to swing the election to McCain - if Obama gets elected in the fall, she can't realistically run again until 2016, when she'll be nearly 70 years old. Why else would she try to turn the central issue of the campaign to experience and national security credentials - something that it's impossible to deny John McCain trumps them both on.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardSee, I think deep down she's already given up and is just trying to do everything in her power to swing the election to McCain - if Obama gets elected in the fall, she can't realistically run again until 2016, when she'll be nearly 70 years old. Why else would she try to turn the central issue of the campaign to experience and national security credentials - something that it's impossible to deny John McCain trumps them both on.
No way. I completely understand one's motivation to be president in the present, but no person in their right mind would intentionally disrupt their party from the win on the off-chance that they don't get blamed for the loss of their party. Just because she's scorched-earthing doesn't mean she's hoping Obama loses to McCain in 2008.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled Americans.
It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects.
I don't know what Air America is, nor do I know who Randi Rhodes is...but a quick peek at Wikipedia suggests that she's a TALK SHOW PERSONALITY. I mean, that really should give everyone a clue there: she's bound to say something that will push the envelope.
A quick browse through the entry suggests that she's also a humourist, so I'm sure this is all meant in jest more than anything else.
People should just get a clue, and if something bothers them, they should just change the damn channel. Talk radio shouldn't be censored.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardSee, I think deep down she's already given up and is just trying to do everything in her power to swing the election to McCain - if Obama gets elected in the fall, she can't realistically run again until 2016, when she'll be nearly 70 years old. Why else would she try to turn the central issue of the campaign to experience and national security credentials - something that it's impossible to deny John McCain trumps them both on.
I don't know that she's given up, as I don't think its in the Clinton DNA to give up anything, but she definitely seems to have gone for the "Clinton or nothing" approach. There have definitely been times where it would seem as if McCain was the other person in the race, and Obama was the other party's target that merited the big guns.
And while I'm fine with that on a moral level, win at all costs and all, it seems like a strategy that cannot end well. After years and years of Clinton-centered Democratic politics, and their status as the two most important people in the party, they are relegating themselves to the nostalgia wing. Yes Clinton might win the nomination, but if she does it seems unlikely to me she wins a general election. And at that point, the Clintons are pretty much done as a party. They have alienated likely a majority of the Democrats and allowed themselves to be cast in the role of backwards-looking politicians. They run on the notion that "weren't things good in 1995, don't we want 1995 again?" And nostalgia, though powerful, rarely has a long shelf life in politics. It might not be Obama (the Dems are not as forgiving of losers at the GOP, where losing in your first go-round is something of a rite of passage) taking the reins, but someone will step forward and be the voice of the party's movement forward, past the Clintons.
Whenever Clinton loses, be it the primary or the general, its her last stand. So I understand the willingness to burn it all down and do anything to win. After all, she's spent 3.5 years assuming the nomination was her right, a legacy she had only to reach out her hand to claim. And at the last minute (politically) someone came along and stole HER nomination, the one she and Bill had been working towards since 2000, hell since 1992, hell since 1972. You can see in her face, in her voice, she has the demeanor of someone who feels wronged, who feels like something they were promised has been taken from her. And like any child who has been told they can't have a toy, they want no one to be able to play with it.
(edited by spf on 6.4.08 0931) 2007 W-League Fantasy Football champion!
Originally posted by OliverWow...this is all insane.
I don't know what Air America is, nor do I know who Randi Rhodes is...but a quick peek at Wikipedia suggests that she's a TALK SHOW PERSONALITY.
Air America is a talk radio network. I suppose knowing that would have made it less shocking to you to discover that an employee of a talk radio network is a"TALK SHOW PERSONALITY."
Originally posted by OliverPeople should just get a clue, and if something bothers them, they should just change the damn channel.
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Air America was trying to avoid: a whole lot of their listeners changing the damn channel.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardOn the other hand, Hillary Clinton is a big fucking whore.
Just for the record, I totally agree with this sentiment.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardSee, I think deep down she's already given up and is just trying to do everything in her power to swing the election to McCain - if Obama gets elected in the fall, she can't realistically run again until 2016, when she'll be nearly 70 years old. Why else would she try to turn the central issue of the campaign to experience and national security credentials - something that it's impossible to deny John McCain trumps them both on.
While I won't claim to know her motivations, I do agree that much of her rhetoric lately reads like "McCain for President" literature. For example, I know I'm not the only voter in America who, upon their initial viewing of the Clinton ad asking "Who do you want answering the White House phone at three in the morning?" thought "John McCain."
Still, this is politics, and you never know; she may still end up in the second position on the Democrat's ticket. Look to history, especially the 1960 race, where LBJ wound up running as Veep under JFK. I see a lot of parallels between that race and this one. Obama will need the help of Hillary's supporters to win, while Clinton will accept that being a heart beat away from the top job isn't such a bad deal.
"Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help." - Isaiah 58:7 (New Living Translation)
Originally posted by Downtown BookieStill, this is politics, and you never know; she may still end up in the second position on the Democrat's ticket. Look to history, especially the 1960 race, where LBJ wound up running as Veep under JFK. I see a lot of parallels between that race and this one. Obama will need the help of Hillary's supporters to win, while Clinton will accept that being a heart beat away from the top job isn't such a bad deal.
I would bet my left nut that neither of them take the VP slot. At this point too many of each side's supporters have grown to have feelings of deep animus towards the other candidate. HRC's supporters feel like this is just another man coming in and taking something from the hard-working woman simply because she's a woman. Offering her the VP slot would be seen as the final insult. And as Obama put it "so I don't have the experience needed to be President, but you'd have no problem putting me at VP, a heartbeat from the Presidency?"
HRC has been veep once already, she won't take the job again. Obama isn't going to let himself risk becoming the #3 person in the administration (we all know Bill is the #2 is HRC does get elected somehow).
Either way, I know that its going to be hard for the Dems to win. I know if HRC gets the nomination I will be voting for McCain. After all, I'd rather him answer the red phone at 3AM than her.
Originally posted by Downtown BookieI'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Air America was trying to avoid: a whole lot of their listeners changing the damn channel.
I feel like the issue wouldn't be as much if it wasn't said about HRC, a woman. Calling John McCain a whore probably wouldn't gain as much traction.
In polite company, you can't call a woman a whore, the same as you can't joke about lynching Tiger Woods, the same as you can't joke about a black basketball player stealing hubcaps. If you do something like that, whether you meant it or not, you're probably going to suffer the consequences.
I know that because they have video of 1960 it seems much more recent, but the race where Kennedy beat Nixon is as close time wise as Woodrow Wilson beating Teddy Roosevelt and Taft in 1912 was to 1960. Tough to see after a drawn out fight that goes through the summer how they can spin a unity ticket. As for when Hillary became entitled to the nomination, I place it back to the 'vast right wing conspiracy' interview in '98 when she stood by Bill.
You know, the Clintons aren't idiots. Hillary knows that she technically can't win the nomination as it stands, and the only way she could win (getting the superdelegates to ignore the popular vote) would be party suicide and may well cost her the general election. This will all be moot anyway if she barely wins Pennsylvania or loses Indiana, but the bottom line is that Hillary doesn't want to go out a loser. If Obama is still ahead, I bet she takes the route of 'magnanimously' stepping aside and building a Ted Kennedy-esque reputation as a Senate leader. This way she wins and keeps her influence, and then Obama can go on to whip McCain in November.
Either way, I know that its going to be hard for the Dems to win. I know if HRC gets the nomination I will be voting for McCain. After all, I'd rather him answer the red phone at 3AM than her.
McCain would be awake anyway on one of his thrice-nightly trips to the bathroom. Seriously, you want the 'bomb bomb bomb Iran' guy as president?
“How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I... pretend to be the person I’m portraying. You’re confused. Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says ‘I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard,’ and I said ‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard?’ and Peter Jackson said ‘I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show.’ So I said ‘Okay’ and then I said to myself ‘Mmm.. How do I do that?’ And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage. How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand." -- Sir Ian McKellen, Extras
Originally posted by Big BadYou know, the Clintons aren't idiots. Hillary knows that she technically can't win the nomination as it stands, and the only way she could win (getting the superdelegates to ignore the popular vote) would be party suicide and may well cost her the general election. This will all be moot anyway if she barely wins Pennsylvania or loses Indiana, but the bottom line is that Hillary doesn't want to go out a loser. If Obama is still ahead, I bet she takes the route of 'magnanimously' stepping aside and building a Ted Kennedy-esque reputation as a Senate leader. This way she wins and keeps her influence, and then Obama can go on to whip McCain in November.
Either way, I know that its going to be hard for the Dems to win. I know if HRC gets the nomination I will be voting for McCain. After all, I'd rather him answer the red phone at 3AM than her.
McCain would be awake anyway on one of his thrice-nightly trips to the bathroom. Seriously, you want the 'bomb bomb bomb Iran' guy as president?
No, I don't WANT McCain as POTUS. I want Obama. But if you give me two bad choices in him and HRC, I'm going to pick McCain.
And I don't expect her to drop out unless and until the FL and MI things are sorted out, and Obama has enough superdelegates that he gets past 2025 (or whatever the # becomes with FL and MI should one or both get included). Since right now her only hope is pinned on being able to count those votes as they currently stand, and then being able to use those to keep the popular vote gap close. Those aren't getting decided until at least mid-June at the earliest.
I think what people forget is that she really believes she is the best of all possible candidates and will make the best President in history. Her belief borders on hubris but she really thinks it is her right because she is that good. This, in her mind, justifies whatever it takes to win and no, I don't think she has conceded anything yet.
Originally posted by spfNo, I don't WANT McCain as POTUS. I want Obama. But if you give me two bad choices in him and HRC, I'm going to pick McCain.
I also don't understand that leap from Obama to McCain. Granted, I found McCain to be the least offensive of the Republican candidates, but I still don't think I could bring myself to vote for him if HRC get the nomination.
If you're that against her, then go third party. Hell, the Democrats will think it's the same thing anyway.
Update: The Huffington Post has learned that Randi Rhodes quit Air America after being asked by the network to apologize for her inflammatory remarks against Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro.
A source at Air America, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "Many people screw up and then apologize and move on. Like Imus. Like David Shuster. Like Jay Rockefeller on McCain. Like Obama on Rezko. Like Hillary on Bosnia. Randi Rhodes refused to apologize for her obscene comments and has chosen instead to terminate her relationship with Air America."
The source also said that there is no love lost between Rhodes and her colleagues at the network. "No one is upset. She made the move but there's relief and joy."
Dismissing claims that Rhodes was just doing stand-up comedy in San Francisco when she made the remarks, the source confirmed that Air America paid her way to California, that she was advertised as "Air America's Randi Rhodes," and that the Air America website urged people to go for "an evening of politics and pop culture." The source said, "Air America pays people to be talk show hosts, not stand-up comics, or else we'd hire Chris Rock."
I'm sure Air America can survive, but Rhodes will be just fine too. She was doing better numbers than Rush Limbaugh in a lot of places, so I don't doubt that the Jones Radio Networks (whose shows I actually prefer over most of Air America's offerings) will scoop her right up.
EDIT: Probably the most interesting part of this story is that Richard Belzer will fill in Rhodes' timeslot next week. That could be really cool.